In her debut feature film, Nadia Szold presents a nostalgic look back at the classic film noir period. Joy de V takes place in a version of New York heavily shrouded in organized crime, where Roman (Evan Louison), a small-time con-artist whose biggest scam is receiving disability checks by pretending to be crazy, and his seven-month-pregnant wife, Joy (Josephine de La Baume), live happily in a small apartment. When Joy mysteriously disappears—on the same day Roman learns that his mental disability checks might be running out—Roman begins a half-hearted search for her, but, in the end, his motives appear to be more about protecting himself than about his love for Joy. While the story is found wanting, Joy de V is beautifully shot—turning New York into an Escher-esque maze for Roman to find his way through—and the architecture at the various shooting locations only gets more and more amazing. Joy de V was also funded in part through Kickstarter, something that's becoming more popular among filmmakers, and features film legend Claudia Cardinale in a small role as Signora Morosini.